SFGuy

For all those Pilots out there Air Drop qualified. Here are a few pointers. During the Pilot brief with the Jumpmasters and DZSO make sure you specify the DZ boundaries according to the AF regs, not the other way around. The Army will screw you if they can. Confirm that the DZSO has conducted at least 3 ADZSO operations in the last six months. Meaning that he assisted a senior DZSO with three jumps. If he has not, and has not been a DZSO prior to your jump, ask for a current DZSO. Confirm that all Jumpmasters and static safety's are current. I know we let noncurrent Jumpmasters release Jumpers to become current, however in order for that to happen the noncurrent jump master is watched by the official Jumpmaster for that pass. And most of all, if the DZSO sounds like its his first time on the radio it probably is, which means he has no idea what he is supposed to be saying and not saying, If he sounds like that, I personally would not drop based on the information from the DZSO is unclear. well Thanks to all those pilots that supported me in the past, I'm glad I was able to be there for Jared and return the favor. Take care............"No Drop" :)

Congratulations Jared!

I didn't land off the Drop zone, nor did I steer my chute off the Drop zone. I landed on the asphalt next to a building the was near the fence and building that was near the Chute truck. Depending on who you ask, some say I was off some say I avoided obstacles. I was briefed that the drop zone had the following obstacles. Main Post was to the east, a mount site was to the west, a fence and power lines were to the North. all of which are considered obstacles within the surveyed drop zone. This pilot did nothing wrong. The winds on the ground exceeded 15knots and the Army DZSO was taking the winds from the riggers. The riggers were reading the winds while sitting on the back of the chute truck which was a large box truck surrounded by two other trucks. The winds should have been taken 20 meters from any object that could give incorrect readings. The Army is at fault here not the pilot. How is the pilot supposed to calculate the correct PI if the wind readings he was given from the ground were wrong. in fact the winds that the Pilot were given were 8 knots but the true winds were above 15 based on the fully inflated wind sock that was caught on video.